England look to set record straight

That sentiment applies in particular to middle-order batsman Murray Goodwin and all-rounder Neil Johnson. The pair have announced that this match will be their last.

Greater financial as well as political security offered by Western Australia (Goodwin) and South Africa’s Western Province (Johnson) has proved too tempting to resist, each cricketer returning to an environment with which they are familiar.

Johnson in particular will have a key role. His free-swinging left-handed batting has made him one of the most dangerous openers in the One-Day game while his wholehearted fast-medium bowling is not to be underestimated either.

Batting is the tourists’ strength and their middle-order have all made contributions on the way to the final. They are happy to chase a tough target as they proved when beating the West Indies at Chester-le-Street where Goodwin’s unbeaten 112 helped them to successfully overhaul an imposing 288.

Anything short and wide at Goodwin will be just what the 27-year-old wants, having grown up on Perth pitches where the bounce encourages batsmen to stay on the backfoot, pulling and cutting anything wayward.

Whether he can play such strokes in comfort will in part depend on the Lord’s pitch. Too many domestic One-Day finals have been ruined as contests in recent years by a combination of overcast conditions and uneven bounce.

The result has been that the side fielding first has frequently found that winning the toss was the most important decision in the match.

Groundsman Mick Hunt can do nothing about the weather of course but if it does stay dry it will be much easier for him to prepare a true surface.

To their credit England’s pace attack have relied very little on the pitches for their wickets in this series.

Disciplined, accurate bowling, which saw them achieve the remarkable feat of going two games without sending down a solitary wide has been the key to their success.

The anticipated return of Somerset fast bowler Andy Caddick, who was rested from England’s final group match against the West Indies, will strengthen an attack where Alan Mullally, Craig White and Mark Ealham have all shown that taking wickets and keeping the run-rate down need not be mutually exclusive.

England are often said to lack an outstanding fielder but collectively they have improved their efforts, albeit from a low base.

However, in Alec Stewart they have a wicketkeeper who has snapped up just about every chance offered to him, in marked contrast to opposite number and Zimbabwe captain Andy Flower.

Stewart has been England’s man of the series, the gaffer’ leading from the front with bat and gloves.

The return of Nasser Hussain to the captaincy saw no slackening in the Surrey stand-in’s efforts, Stewart scoring two successive hundreds in England’s final group games.

Stewart’s opening partner Marcus Trescothick is almost as big a prize for the opposition.

The Somerset left-hander has been England’s find of the series with 287 runs at an average of just over 57.

Trescothick, 24, has done all that can be asked of him so far, which is more than England’s middle order. They’ve had few opportunities and when the pressure’s been on, as it was in their three-run defeat by West Indies on Thursday, they have failed.

In retrospect Hussain may have been better off easing his injured hand back to fitness by spending time in the middle with Essex before returning to the Test arena against West Indies.

The Zimbabwe attack has been depleted by injuries and leg-spinner Paul Strang has been particularly expensive.

Once again fast bowler Heath Streak is set to carry a big burden.

This all makes for an intriguing finale. The only sadness is that the fixture-planners have placed it in the middle of a fascinating Test series.